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CoronaCheckIn: What Is Happening With You?
I just spent a weekend out in the world and it was… weird.
I haven’t been around that many people since the start of the pandemic. I haven’t been around that many people without masks (more without than with). And I haven’t been out as a vaccinated individual, while still worrying about the unvaccinated (like my daughter) and new news and new strains and so on.
So I wanted to check in:
1) Are you worried about new strains and how it might impact, or are you feeling fairly safe and fine?
2) Are you ready to rush right back to life, mask free, or still feel like it’s too soon?
There are no wrong answers.
I tend to lean towards the much more cautious and concerned with younger or sicker populaces, but right now I feel like I’m in confused limbo. I want to wear a mask because it’s helped my health all year and my family’s, but I also just had a weekend where very few did (we of course still did whenever inside) and it felt… complicated? It was only one of the first times since the start of the pandemic where I felt like I might be doing the wrong thing, and was really torn on if I should stay cautious or embrace the vaxxed life like others seem to be.
What about you?
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1 Reply
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I suggest you stay cautious. Even if figures are good, the virus is not gone. It is dormant and can awake any moment if we let our attention slip. It has become even more infectious than ever.
Here in the Netherlands things were really going well, with many restrictions and a lot of vaccinations (1 million every week), daily infections were down to 500 per end of June. Most people of 60+ are fully vaccinated, the group 30-50 is half way, and most of the younger still need to get their vaccine.
Then, the government decided to play for Santa Claus and lifted almost all restrictions per 26 of June. People dropped the masks (even in the hospitals), went to nightclubs, festivals, bars, movies, theatres etc. Many of them, in the age of 18-24, not yet or only partly (and/or too recently) vaccinated.
The rising delta mutation hit us hard. We have had an explosion of infections since, rising 1800% in two weeks time to a peak of around 10.000 per day.
Of course, many restrictions are back in place now, and the minister of health and the prime minister apologized for their mistakes, but it might be too late to stem the flood. At this moment, infections seem to stabilize around 8000 per day, which is still awfully many. The only bright light is that most of the infected, due to their age, are not seriously ill and don’t burden the hospitals so far. But in the age group 30-50 many only are partly vaccinated, which is of little use against the delta mutation. It is a race against the clock to vaccinate as many as possible next weeks to prevent the fourth wave of flooding the country.
But we are also seeing the first cases of people getting infected while being fully vaccinated. It seems they only develop mild symptoms and don’t need to be hospitalized, but there is no telling if this also applies to those with more delicate health, like people with cf.
Personally we saw this all coming and kept our normal cautious behavior. We regard our vaccination as an extra precaution, but not as a free-to-go card. Distancing and wearing a good mask is our only “sure” prevention. I hope in two weeks time the situation is not so bad as it is presently, since I have an appointment in the hospital with my cf team. If masks are not obligatory in the hospital again by that time, I might have to postpone my visit – and my start with trikafta.
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